Kitten
by Blue Art Ninja
Summary: There was a kitten who was hungry and lost. She found a cat named Blaze. Blaze she teaches her how to hunt and she gives her a name. This is my Pick-a-Letter challenge for Leafpelt of Thunderclan. R&R!


**This is my Pick-a-Letter challenge for Leafstar. (This corresponds with my story Spirit: A New Dawn) Keyword: Kitten. Hope you enjoy! R&R!  
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She felt lonely and cold. She had nowhere to go. The kitten wandered through the forest hungry and lost. She had no idea how to hunt. She was so small, almost the size of a rabbit. She feebly scrambled up on a rock to see ahead of her. Her face lit up, when she saw shelter. She nearly fell down trying to get off the rock. The shelter wasn't much to look at, a hollow in the tree slightly above the ground, but it was just big enough to shield her from the cold wind. It was leaf fall, almost leaf bare. Her teeth chattered as she jumped in the hole and curled up to sleep. She lay awake trying to ignore her stomach's howls of hunger. Finally, the darkness seized her mind.

She felt someone prodding her in the side. She woke to see who it was. It was another she-cat with golden fur and brown paws. She had dark brown eyes and a small hole in her left ear.

She asked the kitten, "Are you okay?"

The kitten didn't answer.

"Are you hungry?" the golden cat asked. She bent down and picked up a squirrel. The scent of food filled the kitten's nostrils making her mouth water. Her stomach growled in answer.

The she-cat gave a mrrow of laughter. "I'll take that as a yes. You can have this. I have a sparrow buried in the forest. I'll go back for it."

The kitten climbed out of the hole and bent down to sniff the offered food.

"Go on, eat."

She slowly took a bite of squirrel. She swallowed and gulped the rest down before speaking. "Thank you."

The golden cat smiled. "My name is Blaze. What's yours?"

The kitten looked at the ground. "I don't have one," she mumbled.

"Oh, where's your mother?"

"Don't have that either."

"Oh," Blaze said again. "I'm sorry to hear that."

The kitten looked up, surprised at the concern in Blaze's voice.

"It's okay, I don't remember her." The kitten said.

After a short period of silence, the kitten asked Blaze, "Are you going to get that sparrow?"

"Oh! Right. Stay here."

"Okay," the kitten said as she climbed back into the hollow. She watched as Blaze disappeared into the forest. She waited quietly. Blaze soon returned, a sparrow dangling from her jaws. Blaze dropped it on the ground and proceeded to eat. When she was done, she walked over to the kitten.

"Do you mind if I sleep here with you?" Blaze asked.

The kitten hesitated, then nodded. She moved over just enough for Blaze to fit. Blaze climbed in, curled up and closed her eyes. The kitten snuggled up next to Blaze feeling safe and fell asleep.

The kitten woke up when Blaze climbed out of the hollow. The kitten blinked the sleep from her eyes and scrambled to her paws. She jumped down and stretched.

"So! What do you want to do today?" Blaze asked.

The kitten thought about this for a moment. "Well, you know how to hunt right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Would you teach me?" the kitten asked.

"Sure! Follow me!" Blaze padded deeper into the forest.

After walking a short distance, Blaze suddenly stopped. She opened her mouth and drank in the air.

"Tell me what you smell," Blaze said.

The kitten, with her mouth agape, inhaled deeply. "Mouse," she said dreamily. Her stomach growled.

"Very good!"

The kitten beamed. Blaze rubbed herself on a nearby tree. The kitten gave her a look. "This is so your prey won't smell you." "Oh."

Blaze dropped into a hunter's crouch. The kitten mimicked her movements. "You should put most of your weight on your haunches. You use your front paws to creep forward. Do not make any noise or you could scare the prey. Make sure the air is downwind or the prey could smell you and run away," Blaze demonstrated.

"Get close enough to pounce, but don't let it see you. Bite the back of it's neck quickly to kill it. Got that?" The kitten nodded. They practiced a couple of times on a clump of ferns.

"Ready to try it yourself?" The kitten nodded, sporting confidence.

The kitten walked for a while, stopping once in a while to smell the air. Blaze was following her a few tail lengths away. She finally smelled mouse again. It was scuffling under some bracken looking for food. She did as Blaze taught her, she dropped into a hunter's crouch and put most of her weight on her hind legs. She got close enough, but unfortunately, stepped on a twig causing the mouse to scurry away in fear. "Fox dung!" She hissed under her breath.

"Hey! Pretty good for a first try! Let's do it again," Blaze declared.

They were out in the forest until sun-high practicing. The kitten managed to catch a scrawny shrew and two fat mice. Blaze caught a plump vole, a squirrel, and a mouse. They sat down next to the hollow tree and shared a vole and a shrew. When they were done they laid the rest next to the tree and covered them with leaves. Both of them sat there talking for a long time.

Suddenly Blaze's ears flattened against her head. Every hair on her back stood on end. Blaze hissed a 'stay here' at the kitten. Blaze slowly crept toward the forest, flattened herself to the ground and hissed threateningly. The kitten heard another hiss, but this time it wasn't Blaze. She looked closer at the forest and saw a scrawny black and white tom. He looked like he hadn't eaten in a while. A growl erupted from his throat, and he leaped at Blaze. He slammed her back into the ground and scratched her face. She used her hind legs to rake his belly. He yelped in pain and jumped off her. The hostile tom flattened himself to the ground. Blaze shoved him over with force and bit down on his hind leg. He clawed at her, until she let go. He raked a small deep gash across her shoulder. Blaze jumped on his back and gripped him with her claws. He jumped around trying to shake her off. Then he rolled over crushing her underneath him. She staggered up, but he knocked her down blow after blow. She finally lay there, too exhausted to do anything.

The kitten crept around the tom trying not to be seen. When she was behind him she used what Blaze had taught her. She dropped into a hunter's crouch. When the kitten was close enough she jumped on him and sunk her claws into the offending tom. He screeched, when she tore off part of his ear with her teeth. She rolled off him as he raced for the trees. The kitten ran to Blaze's side.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice full of concern.

Blaze grunted as she tried to get up.

"Don't move! You'll only hurt yourself more!" The kitten commanded.

Blaze laid back down. Her breathing was quick and shallow.

Blaze managed to get out, "Cob...webs."

"What?" The kitten asked bewildered.

Blaze cleared her throat. "Cobwebs. They stop the bleeding. Go find some please."

The kitten nodded and reluctantly trudged into the forest, hesitant to leave Blaze lying next to the tree wounded. She was quick to find some thick abandoned cobwebs. She twirled it around her paw and raced back to Blaze. The kitten pressed the cobweb on to the wounds to stop the bleeding. Blaze winced.

"How did you know that cobwebs stop bleeding?" she asked trying to make conversation.

"I met a big group of cats a long time ago. It was the strangest thing in the world. They had a leader. I think her name was Blue...sun? No, Blue...moon? Oh! It was Bluestar! It was new-leaf and I was hungry. She offered me extra fresh-kill. I had a leg injury and their medicine cat helped heal me. She taught me a few things. Like, marigold stops infection, and lavender, borage leaves and feverfew help a cat with a fever."

The kitten cocked her head to the side at 'medicine cat'.

"How long did you stay there?" the kitten asked.

"For about...one moon," Blaze replied. They both sat in silence as the light of day fled into the night.

"By the way, what do you call yourself? I don't want to refer to you as 'the kitten' in my head."

The kitten's face scrunched up as she was thinking.

"I was never given a name."

Blaze thought for a moment. "We need to call you something. Any ideas? What about...Tiny? Leaf? Berry? Mint?"

The kitten shook her head at all of them.

"Well let's think about your personality. You're very smart, caring, sweet, adventurous, you have good spirit, and..." She gasped. "What do you think about Spirit?"

The kitten looked up and smiled. "I like it," she said with a yawn. "My name is Spirit."

Blaze looked at her with warm affection. "Spirit, I think you should get some sleep."

"What if the tom comes back?" Spirit asked, terrified at the thought.

"I don't think he will. Not after what you did to him," Blaze said with amusement in her eyes.

Spirit yawned again. "Alright. You're coming with me," she ordered.

They both curled up in the hollow. Spirit pondered her new name. She soon drifted off to sleep listening to Blaze's rhythmic snores.


End file.
